


Coffee Magic

by tomatopudding



Category: Bones (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Crossover, Episode Tag, Episode: s08e13 The Twist in the Plot, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 03:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/669872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The secret behind Sweets' coffee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coffee Magic

The day was cold, gray, and rainy. The typical London day. As a result of the inclement weather, the coffee shop known as Grinds and Grounds was fairly busy, filled with people warming their hands and stomachs with hot tea and coffee, with the occasional hot chocolate. 

Lance Sweets breathed in the aromatic air with a smile. He had been in London for only a week, he had seen all the sights and done the tourist thing. Now, he was bored. He still had a month until he started a new job at the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC. 

Actually, he already had a job as a psychiatrist and criminal profiler with the FBI, but in September he was going to begin working with a medico-legal team at the Institute. The FBI had given him two months leave, which he had decided to take in London. He had always wanted to go to London and this was the perfect opportunity.

Lance’s problem was that he got antsy very easily if he wasn’t doing anything productive. As a result of that, he had decided to look for a job. Although he was extremely overqualified for it, Lance had managed to get the owner of Grinds and Grounds to allow him to work for the next month to keep busy. Of course, learning how to make coffee the right way was a plus. 

This was his first day and Lance was trying very hard not to be nervous. He made his way to the counter, shrugging off his jacket in the warmth of the shop’s interior. The young man at the machine looked to be Lance’s age, maybe a bit older, at least by physical appearance. His eyes were dark and haunted and a frown tugged at the corners of his lips.

‘Hello,’ Lance said, ‘I’m Lance. I’m going to be working here for the next month.’

The other man looked up at Lance and a smile broke out on his face. It was a kind smile, but it didn’t quite reach his haunted eyes.

‘Nice to meet you, Lance,’ he said in a soft voice. His accent wasn't English, but seemed to be very close, ‘My name is Ianto and I’ll be training you.’

Lance smiled back widely, ‘Great! Can I ask you, where’s your accent from?’

Ianto chuckled, ‘Wales. You know, not very many Americans can tell the difference between the various accents.’

‘Yes, well, I’m a psychiatrist and a psychologist, so I’m trained to notice all sorts of details.’

‘Bit over qualified to be working as a barista, aren’t you.’

Lance shrugged, ‘I’m on a break from my job, so I figured, I might as well do something light and easy.’

‘Easy,’ Ianto said with a smirk, ‘I’ll have you know, there’s nothing easy about making good coffee. Everything has to be just right. Roll up your sleeves, Lance, this is going to take some time.’

\------------

Lance smirked to himself as Booth and Brennan praised his coffee with blissful expressions. This wasn’t the first time they had begged him for his secrets and it probably wouldn’t be the last. 

The first time it had happened, Lance had sent an email to Ianto. It had been so long since their last email exchange and he had been looking forward to catching up. 

What he’s gotten instead was a reply from someone named Gwen Cooper informing him that Ianto Jones had been killed in duty while in service to the crown three years previously. Lance had mourned for the man who had become his friend during his month in London. Though their contact afterwards had been sporadic at best, Lance had always cherished the coffee-related knowledge that Ianto had passed along to him. 

Now, every time he made coffee and every time Brennan and Booth lavished their praises, Sweets just gave them a mysterious little smile, holding in his mind the memory of the man behind the coffee magic.


End file.
